Jennex assures Nova Scotia students are safe

By BRIAN MEDEL and DAVID JACKSON Staff ReportersPublished December 17, 2012 - 4:45pm Last Updated December 17, 2012 - 10:09pm

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Education minister responds in wake of Connecticut shootings

Eknoor Kaur, 3, stands with her father Guramril Singh during a candlelight vigil outside Newtown High School before an interfaith vigil with President Barack Obama on Sunday. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

UPDATED 8:54 p.m. Monday

YARMOUTH — Education Minister Ramona Jennex was on the phone early Monday, talking with several school principals across the province on the first day of classes since 20 young children and six school employees were massacred Friday in a Connecticut elementary school.

“I spoke to seven principals today and a number of teachers,” Jennex said in Yarmouth, where she took part in the official opening of Yarmouth’s new $20-million high school.

“I checked in on elementary schools, junior high schools and also ... high schools just to see how things were going.”

The flag at Nova Scotia’s newest school flew at half-mast in the stiff breeze.

Inside, Jennex said she wanted to know if any children needed support when they arrived at their schools anywhere in the province. She also wondered how staff were faring.

“Most principals that I spoke with had had a meeting before school started,” Jennex said.

The minister was asked about school security in Nova Scotia.

“We’re not reviewing anything at this time because we have a very good system already in place,” she said.

She said Nova Scotia schools do practise lockdown situations.

“Twice a year, schools do ... a lockdown (drill),” she said. “We have very good safety rules in the complete province.

“But in light of this horrific tragedy, we will wait until we have the absolute final report from Connecticut. We will most definitely, at the (Education) Department, have a look at it to see if there are any lessons learned or anything that we can do to respond.”

Jennex noted that the new Yarmouth school was built with safety as a primary consideration.

“If you actually do a walk around the school, you will notice that the secretaries and anybody in the office can see everyone entering and exiting,” she said.

“This is a secure building, and you need to be buzzed in and out.

“Also, the sightlines in the school ... you can see from one end of a hallway to another. No blind spots.”

The minister said emergency policies are in place.

“All of our schools have a response for a number of situations, be it fire or an intruder or any kind of safety issue,” she said. “We have very good guidelines.”

Jennex also said her department has a full-time safety officer.

That officer, Const. Mark Young of Halifax Regional Police, said everyone involved in school safety will be reviewing their plans in light of the shootings in Newtown.

“Absolutely,” said Young, a 33-year veteran of the Halifax force.

“We have to look at this and say, ‘What lessons can we learn from this? Where can we improve, further improve our safety measures?’”

If a shooter came into a Nova Scotia school, Young said, the primary response would be for a teacher to lock the classroom door and get students into a confined space where they couldn’t be seen from the hall.

“You might say hiding in the corner, but it’s more like just being in the corner of the room where they can’t be seen from the corridor,” the officer said. “What we know from our experience is where there’s an impediment to the person’s travel, they won’t work too hard to get past that.”

Young also said it’s important for school officials to keep open lines of communication with students, who may see warning signs of potential danger.

Jennex said she taught Primary and Grade 1 students for more than 30 years and was shaken by the events in Newtown.

“I can hardly talk about this,” she said. “Every other minister of education today is feeling the same way.

“It’s been a horrible few days for the people affected by the tragedy in Connecticut ... but it’s affected every single person throughout the world.”

Jennex also chairs the national Council of Ministers of Education.

“On behalf of (education) ministers around Canada, we did contact the ministry in Connecticut to offer our support and our condolences,” she said.

The Halifax and Chignecto-Central regional school boards sent letters home with students Monday, an Education Department spokesman said.

In the letter to parents, acting Halifax board superintendent Judy White said every school has an emergency plan and practises it.

She also noted that board staff wear board-issued identification in schools and that exits are locked during the day and visitors must check in at the office.

Premier Darrell Dexter sent a letter to Gov. Dan Malloy of Connecticut.

“On behalf of all Nova Scotians, I want to extend our deepest condolences on the incredible tragedy,” Dexter said in the letter. “Our hearts go out to the victims, their families, the community of Newtown and all the people of Connecticut who undoubtedly are still trying to come to terms with this shocking and unthinkable act.”

Generally, it is illegal in Canada to have a rifle equipped with an ammunition magazine, commonly called a clip, that can hold more than five bullets. The Connecticut shooter was believed to have used a semi-automatic rifle with 30-round clips.